DIY Homemade Simple Winter lotion for Dry skin

Every time i read the ingredients list in most of the day creams/lotions etc with all the chemicals my heart skips a beat and takes me towards going natural albeit a little expensive.

I feel homemade one's are the best because even the lotions and creams claim to be ayurvedic/natural have a list of preservatives like ethanol's/ paraben's as preservative.  You can read about their ill effects!

I have started experimenting with my own lotion  a I have been successful so far. If you have tried my lip balm recipe this should be a breeze

So without much ado i present my lotion recipe.

List of Ingredients for about 20ml of lotion (Lasts about 15 days)

• 1 teaspoon(5ml) of beeswax
• 4 teaspoon of the oils, I used a blend of coconut oil and almond oil in 1:1 ratio
• 3 teaspoon of pure rose water(distilled)
• 2 drops of honey
• 1 drop of neem oil
• 3 drops of Vitamin E oil
• 5 drops of lavender essential oil(optional/ use any essential oil of choice) 

How to:

1.  In a double boiler, keep a clean sterilized bowl either stainless steel / glass.
2.  Add beeswax, coconut oil and almond oil and allow them to blend and melt.
3.  Then take it out and allow to cool but not solidify
4.  At this stage add rose water and blend (you can either use hand blender or blend in mixer)
5.  While blending add neem oil(it has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal properties) make sure you add a little unless you are ok with the strong nutty smell), Vit E oil and other essential oils( I added a blend of 20 drops of lavender with 2 drops of clove* essential oil) and then transfer the whipped cream to a jar.

*use caution when using clove oil with kids/pregnant woman.
 If you use a sterilized process then the cream even with rose water should last about a month.

Please discard if you find the smell odd or see any mold growth.

Homemade DIY Natural Lip Balm - Chocolate

As always I prefer using a natural alternative to anything that I use on my skin.
My mantra has always been simple, Don't apply to your skin what you can't eat!
Lip Balm has been in my list for a long time now, I had to keep this on hold because of  not getting the Organic Cosmetic grade Beeswax in Bangalore.

I usually have trouble finding the lip balm because, if it has a tint of color it is either too dry or loaded with chemicals, If it is nice and smooth it is seriously pale and makes you look sick. So What better idea than making it yourself to suit your own skin! Let me not drag on and give the recipe! Trust me it's super simple!!

Ingredients :
1. Beeswax  - 3/4th of spoon if solid, 1 1/2 spoon when melted
2. Coconut oil  - 1 spoon if thicker, 1 1/2 spoon if melted.
3. Almond oil - 1 spoon
4. Olive oil - 1/2 spoon
5. Honey - 1 spoon
6. Castor oil - 3/4 th spoon ( if you want it a little glossy)
7. Cocoa powder - 1/2 spoon ( If you want some color)
8. Essential oil - of choice 5-6 drops( Can be skipped)

Steps :

1. Melt the Beeswax in a double boiler,
2. To the liquid Beeswax add all the oils(coconut, Almond, olive and castor oil) and stir it well till it blends.
3. Now add few drops of essential oil, if needed, I added lemon oil, it gives a very nice smell to the lip balm.
4. Once this is blended add cocoa powder( for chocolate brown) , you can change it to beetroot powder for red, or any color of your choice, or you can have a plain lip balm without any color.
5. Remove the tumbler from the double boiler and add honey to it and stir(honey also acts as preservative)
6. With honey it starts to solidify, when warm pour it into a clean box of your choice and allow it to cool.
In about 10 mins it solidifies and you have your nice creamy lip balm ready!

When i was done with mine, my niece commented that it smelled and looked so delicious that she wanted to eat it!!

Note: Castor oil adds a little bit of gloss so it's upto you to add it, If not you can the same quantity of any other oil.

Homemade Chocolate Popcorn

We all have a sweet craving time and again, but at the same time there is another part of our brain which is calorie conscious, which chides us from eating high calorific food, So here is a recipe which you can eat to your heart's content as it is low in calorie and can be made in ten minutes. Too hard to believe ? Yes but true. Read more about benefit of popcorn here.

©NaturalOrganicandHappy

Now the Recipe is here

Ingredients :
Homemade popcorn
Honey - As per taste
coconut oil(yes you read it right :-)) - 1 spoonful
cocoa powder - 2 spoonful

Method
1. Mix cocoa powder, honey and coconut oil in a bowl
2. Blend it using a blender or whip or ever in small jar in your mixer, but be careful not to overdo, as the oil would bleed otherwise if overdone.
3. Now to this mixture add  just baked homemade popcorn mix it well until all the popcorn's are coated. Allow it to cool.

Now it ready to savour.

Let me know how it came  out :-).